Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for inspecting an inkjet print head through which ink for printing an image can be ejected.
Description of the Related Art
In a step of manufacturing an inkjet print head through which ink can be ejected, an inspection step for inspecting the ink ejection performance of a manufactured print head is provided to detect the landing position of an ink droplet ejected from the print head.
Such methods for inspecting the print head include, for example, a known method as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-143025. According to this method, while a medium for receiving ink droplets ejected from a print head is moved, ink is ejected through the print head to form ink dots on the medium, thereby an inspection pattern is printed. Then, the image of the inspection pattern is read and is subjected to an image processing. Then, a displacement amount of the positions of the dots formed on the medium by ink droplets are calculated to thereby evaluate the ejection performance of the print head.
The inspection step for carrying out the inspection method as described above is generally included in full-automatic assembly steps for manufacturing a print head. Therefore, a risk is caused in which the inspection step may be influenced by the vibration of apparatuses for performing steps before and after the inspection step and the vibration of an apparatus for performing the inspection step. For example, such a risk is caused in which the influence by these vibrations may deteriorate the accuracy at which ink droplets are landed during the printing of an inspection pattern and the accuracy at which a printed image of the inspection pattern is read, which may prevent the ejection status of the print head from being evaluated accurately. Print heads in recent years in particular have a reduced ink droplet size, an increased image printing resolution, and an increased number of ejection openings for ink ejection. Thus, there has been a need to further improve the landing accuracy at which ink droplets are landed during the printing of the inspection pattern.